Andrew Friedman

Andrew Friedman is a recent National Science Foundation Science, Technology & Society postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and currently a Visiting Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. Before MIT, he received a Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Harvard University and a B.A. in Physics and Astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently working on several theoretical and observational cosmology projects, including devising fun experiments that leverage cosmology to help test fundamental physics. His research background is primarily in observational astronomy and cosmology, specifically cosmological studies of Gamma-Ray Bursts and infrared observations of Type Ia Supernovae which can be used to measure the expansion history of the universe, cosmic acceleration, and dark energy. He is very interested in projects at the intersection between astrophysics, cosmology, and the philosophy of science, and is excited to continue bringing some of these fascinating scientific questions to the public through science writing, art, animation, and other media.

This week, NASA announced that it will partner with the European Space Agency to send a 4,760-pound spacecraft into space to peer out over billions of galaxies in an effort to map and measure the universe. Its purpose: to investigate the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.

Funded by the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) Fund, a donor-advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

National corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Draper. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the David H. Koch Fund for Science, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers.